There are many applications in academic, industrial, and medical fields that benefit from devices and methods that are capable of accurately and controllably delivering fluids, such as liquids and gases, that have a beneficial effect when administered in known and controlled quantities. Such devices and methods can be particularly useful in the medical field where treatments for many patients include the administration of a known amount of a substance at predetermined intervals.
One category of devices for delivering such fluids is that of pumps that have been developed for the administration of insulin and other medicaments for those suffering from both type I and type II diabetes. Some pumps configured as portable infusion devices can provide continuous subcutaneous medicament injection and/or infusion therapy for the treatment of diabetes. Such therapy may include, e.g., the regular and/or continuous injection or infusion of insulin into the skin of a person suffering from diabetes and offer an alternative to multiple daily injections of insulin by an insulin syringe or an insulin pen. Such pumps can be ambulatory/portable infusion pumps that are worn by the user and may use replaceable cartridges. Examples of such pumps and various features that can be associated with such pumps include those disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0053816, U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,573,027, 8,986,253, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0324928, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0331790 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,287,495, each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
One type of pump that has been developed is a patch pump, or micro pump. Patch pumps are small pumps, typically ambulatory, that are carried directly on the skin under the user's clothing. Many such pumps are situated directly on the injection site such that no tubing is required to deliver the insulin or other medicament to the patient. Other patch pumps can be positioned on the user's body with a short length of tubing extending to a nearby infusion site. Patch pumps typically are at least in part disposable, meant to be worn for a day or two and then discarded for a new patch pump.
While various embodiments are amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the intention is not to limit the claimed inventions to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the claims.